(India) Bengal Muslims perform last rites of Hindu neighbour
From gathering wood for the funeral to carrying the body to the crematorium, the neighbours helped his family perform all rituals.
K
OLKATA: In an example of communal peace and humanity, Muslim neighbours of a Hindu man helped perform his last rites in Jhargram district of West Bengal on Thursday.
The 62-year-old man died shortly after being denied treatment by a doctor at the local health centre after suffering a cardiac arrest, as he had not passed a Covid-19 test. The neighbours helped his family conduct all the rituals, from collecting wood for the funeral to taking the body to the crematorium.
Jugal Das was taken to a rural hospital in Binpur on Thursday morning after complaining of chest pain. “The health-care centre had a lady doctor. Five days ago we told her that my father was getting fever. She declined to evaluate my father and asked us to do the Covid-19 test first, and only come if he’s testing negative. He complained of extreme chest pain in the afternoon, and died, “said Sujit, the son of Jugal.
As the news spread about his death, Jugal’s neighbours came to his house to support the family.
“There are about 300 families of Muslims and 10 Hindu households in our village. I’ll never forget what they did for us when an educated doctor refused to treat my father,” Sujit said.” We’re all coming out when someone is in trouble. I spent three nights at the hospital when Jugal was admitted to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata in 2009, “said one of Jugal’s neighbours, Sheik Kader. Sheik Siddiqui said he and others from his community gathered wood, bought clothes and other things for the last rites of Jugal.
From some news agency
